Lloyd Austin says US has no plans to shoot down out-of-control Chinese rocket

The United States has no current plans to shoot down debris from the massive rocket China sent into orbit last week as it continues to make an uncontrolled re-entry to Earth, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Austin made the remarks after being asked about the Chinese Long March 5B, which the latest estimate expects to come back into Earth’s atmosphere sometime between Saturday and Sunday. “At this point, we don’t have a plan to shoot the rocket down,” he first said, going on to express his hope that the vessel will fall into the ocean, causing no harm to anyone or anything on Earth.